As part of our Strengthening Sector workstream, we work with communities and groups to embed their voice and lived experience into local and national decision and policy making.

Partnership working and networks

This area of work includes the various networks and partnerships that exist within the local Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector in Milton Keynes, which encourage joined-up working and collaboration. We facilitate some of them (for example the VCSE Alliance and the Mental Health Alliance) and are involved in and/ or support the others (for example the Voices of Women MK and MK Intercultural Forum). To find out more about this, visit our Network of Networks page here.

See the various networks in MK here

VCSE Representatives

The Milton Keynes VCSE sector has a number of representatives on key decision making partnerships across Milton Keynes as well as a Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes wide committee. Community Action: MK supports these representatives to connect with local groups through a variety of communication channels, VCSE networks and partnerships, and networking events. 

For more information about the current VCSE representatives and the partnership or committee they sit on, please see below:

Health and Wellbeing – The Milton Keynes Health and Care Partnership

Peta Wilkinson (CEO of WIllen Hospice) and Tim Davies (CEO of Camphill Communities Milton Keynes)

Community Safety – The Community Safety Partnership (formerly Safer MK)

Simon Green (CEO of YMCA Milton Keynes) and Maralyn Smith (CEO of MK Dons SET)

Working with People and Communities Committee – The BLMK Integrated Care Board

Ben Thomas (Director of Citizens Advice Milton Keynes)

You can see the details about the local consultations on the milton-keynes.gov.uk/consultations. To stay up to date, you can sign up to to the Council’s newsletter. Here at Community Action: MK we share the key consultations and opportunities to feed into them through our Latest News. You can visit our Strengthening Communities page to find out more about our work directly in the development areas – the New Communities in Milton Keynes, including in City’s the East and West Expansion Areas.

Other key websites that relate to plans and strategies for Milton Keynes as a city include those for The New City Plan (which will replace the existing Plan:MK) and MK Futures 2050.

The planning team at MK City Council can be contacted directly at

See the latest updates about The New City plan – from a conference which took place on Wednesday 1st March on: “‘A Changing Place – Planning for Growth and Diversity in MK’”. Find out more on: 

milton-keynes.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning-policy/new-city-plan-conference

Community-led data: the lived experience

In 2020 and 2021 we have developed an online tool for recording community intelligence from the VCSE groups and organisations in Milton Keynes to help  influence the local service design. We have also contributed to various national research projects related to the better use of the VCSE data as well as using it to help embed the VCSE sector in the newly launched ICS (Integrated Care Systems).

Watch a video case study about the tool here

If your group/ organisation would like to use the tool to feed in your data and share your experiences and information about the needs of your beneficiaries , please follow this link to find out more.

Find out more about our Data Tool here

We want all VCSE groups and organisations to have a chance to collaborate with others to help address the local priorities and needs, and feed into the design of the local services. No matter how small or big your group or organisation is, your insights and knowledge are incredibly important.

If you are interested in your group or organisation getting involved in any of the networks, please contact us at networks@communityactionmk.org.

See the Latest Strengthening Sector news and updates here